Chapter 16
An almost eerie sense of quiet had settled over the colony at this time of day and under normal circumstances, Clara would have called it peaceful. Yet in the back of her mind, she kept thinking back to the conversations with the Doctor, back to his warnings and his story about the abandoned site. The Lost Colony. Soon, something was going to happen, something dark and sinister. Clara didn't know whether it was going to happen gradually, whether the colonists would be forced to witness their own demise, whether they would go down fighting but go down nonetheless - or whether they would all just vanish in the blink of an eye. There and gone a moment later. It all came down to what would happen to them and that was what they needed to figure out.
Geoffrey had fallen silent next to her right after Clara had explained to him who the Doctor was and what they were doing here, that they had travelled here in his time machine made out of wood. She could only imagine the turmoil inside his head as they walked through the quiet town.
At night, Roanoke seemed so peaceful that Clara almost forgot about the problems the colonists faced, it almost made her think that this colony could have been a wonderful fresh start for everyone around. The night was quiet apart from the guards' footsteps near the broken fence and the occasional sound of the wilderness. Most of the lights had already gone out with only every other window illuminated by a candle on the inside where people were still awake. But Clara had seen with her own eyes how fragile this peace really was. She had seen the weather change, she had seen threat starvation posed to every single colonist and, above all, she had seen the alien creature that had someone ended up dangerously close to the place they had chosen for their first step into the New World.
Instead of thinking about what fate might be waiting for the colonists, Clara decided to focus on the task at hand and that was finding the alien that had somehow found its way into the heart of Roanoke, undetected and unnoticed and very possibly posing a threat. She remembered the Doctor's words and tried to look where her mind didn't want to look, but she found little more than darkness in the quiet town. There was nothing but one dark corner after the other.
With a frustrated groan, Clara came to a halt. "I don't think this is going to work," she proclaimed and let her shoulders sink a little.
Geoffrey stopped, too, and looked at her under the moonlight. He seemed to be even more at a loss than she was. "I don't know how else to look for her. I mean, I don't even understand what's going on if you want me to be honest."
He uttered a short, nervous laugh and Clara found her spirits lift a little. It wasn't hopeless, they just had to come up with a better plan. Then, she had an idea.
"I think the Doctor was wrong to assume this alien would think exactly like the one we encountered in the woods," she said, vocalising her thoughts to see if they might make sense once she had said them out loud. "The one in the woods was tall, an adult, but the impression I got from Sally was that of a child."
Geoffrey lifted his eyebrow at her just a little. "The Doctor said they could take any shape like a chameleon can take on any colour."
"Yes, but in Sally's case, it would have made more sense to take the shape of an adult. A grown man or woman would stand out even less in a colony with only a few children. No," she said determinedly, "I think this alien is the equivalent of a human child, young and terrified and in need of protection."
Still, the blacksmith didn't seem to follow. "So?" he asked.
"So, it might do what a human child would do. Find shelter, seek a place of safety and protection, a spot where it previously felt safe," Clara explained as her eyes wandered towards the barn. It was the exact opposite of what the Doctor had told her, but something about the storage barn just drew her in, invited her to step closer and come inside. That was where they would find the alien.
Geoffrey followed her only reluctantly as Clara made her way towards the barn, her steps quiet and careful so as not to scare the alien off before they had a chance to talk. She braced herself, reminding herself that she was good at this, that she had done this so many times she had actually lost count. Comforting children, reassuring them, human and alien alike - Clara had done it before and she could do it again. Carefully, she knocked on the door.
"Sally?" Clara asked, her voice hardly more than a whisper. "It's Clara. Remember me? We talked in there for a while, during the storm."
She fell silent and listened for a reply, but it never came. There was so sound to be heard inside the barn at all.
"I'm here to help you," she went on eventually. "My friend and I, we're good with complicated situations and I can promise you, you'll be completely safe with us."
Again, nothing.
"Maybe she isn't hiding in there after all," Geoffrey suggested carefully.
Clara shook her head. "No, I'm right about this, I know it," she insisted.
Just as she was considering her next move, the unexpected happened and the door opened from the inside. At first, Clara didn't see any reason why it should before Sally came into view like a strange, alien fade-in effect. Only now that she knew what to look for, Clara realised how difficult it was to actually look at the girl's face. It was as if her brain was trying to prevent her from seeing what wasn't there, but she willed herself to do it anyway. In her chameleon form, the girl was as ordinary as Clara or Geoffrey.
Clara focused her gaze on the girl's face and smiled. "Hey, Sally," she said, her voice kind, "I know you've probably been through quite a lot, but my friend and I really need your help. How about we find something to eat and go back to our house for a little chat, hm?"
Sally opened her mouth reluctantly, but it wasn't the girl's voice that Clara heard next. It was a deeper, male voice, but there was a distortion in it that felt like she was hearing it through an old, broken radio not quite tuned to the right frequency.
"I'm afraid that won't be possible," the voice said and Clara shot around.
Geoffrey had gone and whatever was next to her still held his vague shape, but where a few minutes ago his familiar face had been was now the distorted blur of the alien. Instinctively, Clara stepped back, but it was no use. A moment later, her entire world went black as the alien converged to her.
